


For Once In My Life

by Pepsi (ButteredPepsi)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Collage, F/F, F/M, Friendship/Love, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Love Triangles, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Supernatural Elements, Tags Are Hard, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 06:28:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18773113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButteredPepsi/pseuds/Pepsi
Summary: Less malicious more- curious.The man’s head has turned and he was staring at Gaara now. He kept staring until Gaara broke the prolonged period of staring by walking inside. Even with the man’s eyes far from view as the elevator closed Gaara in, he still felt a presence watching him.He was never going to get Naruto ramen at 3 in the morning again.





	For Once In My Life

**Author's Note:**

> For once in my life  
> I have someone who needs me

He was on the roof. Just standing as if where he stood wasn’t inherently suspicious. The wind was strong enough in which you could see his long coat flowing but little else on his person moved. He was standing alone with only a single bag at his side. It could be said he resembled a repair man but the time of night paired with the lack of actual movement to fixing the roof would suggest otherwise. It was even harder to tell if he was real or simply an insomniac’s brain playing a quick trick on the eyes.

Gaara, never one to test his own inner illusions, looked away and kept walking, only stealing a brief glance at the roof man as he walked into the apartments main hall for the night. What he saw was on course with the weird things his ruined psyche had made him see over the years but something seemed off. Less malicious more- curious. The man’s head has turned and he was staring at Gaara now. He kept staring until Gaara broke the prolonged period of staring by walking inside. Even with the man’s eyes far from view as the elevator closed Gaara in, he still felt a presence watching him. He was never going to get Naruto ramen at 3 in the morning again. 

ー  
秋

The incident with the roof man was quickly forgotten by Gaara as the week continued on. With work and classes, he has little time nor energy to feed into his own mind games. The last time he thought about the trip was the day after explaining to his roommate that getting store bought ramen at 3 am was never a good idea; no matter who the one physically buying it may be. 

It had been almost 2 weeks since that conversation and autumn was coming in cold as ever. The streets of Kohana were windy ones once the fall seasons settled in and it showed by the newest trends relating to coats and hoodies. Naruto has promised Gaara at some point in summer he would help him get some ‘good ass clothes’ before it got too cold out. Always a man of his word, Naruto led Gaara into the shopping district and began their hunt for the best clothing money could buy. Let it be known their money situation was - somewhere in between nonexistent and a figment of the imagination so the options were unlimited. The mall they visited most frequently was mostly empty due to the uncomfortably windy weather coming so suddenly. This lets the two college sophomores get in and out quickly without wasting too much daylight. The final thing on the list was to sit down and find some lunch before returning home which was no easy feat in the large food court. Naruto had a taste for ramen, because of course, he does, while Gaara was in a more fried fish mood. They met in the middle by ordering something separate from both- settling for some cheap curry from one of the restaurants. 

‘Can I just say how bored I’ve been recently.’ Naruto said with his head on the table. Gaara didn’t say much in response but the sentiment was shared by the quiet man. Recently the world seemed to become so much, slower. Their school had recently finished their fall testing leaving the students much more free time than before. As perfect as this was when started 5 days ago; catching up on sleep couldn’t be done forever. Gaara didn’t sleep much as is and Naruto was much too hyper to be held down by his own fatigue for longer than a few days at a time. Most of their friends had felt the same way recently, everyone except Shikamaru who insisted on the lack of testing and due work was just what the doctor ordered.

They soon got their curry and talked over their meal about recent conversations with friends and plans made. To act against the lingering boredom shared their main friend groups would all be meeting up to throw a small party. The plan was for everyone to meet up at Naruto and Gaara’s apartment on Saturday and get drunk with each other. Nothing crazy for them but still enough to keep them all entertained for the night. Gaara had about 2 and a half days to get himself ready for the small party and even with the extra time, he knew it wouldn’t change his colder attitude to his friends. It simply came with the package of knowing Gaara. Little to no people outside his family got through the hard exterior, Naruto being the only one capable. 

With nothing left to do at the mall, the two men left departing for home. 

ー  
‘Do you hear that?’ 

Naruto didn’t look away from the game he had been playing on his laptop when Gaara spoke aloud. The aloof man looked at the wall to his left for a moment before returning to his book. He drifted back off into the words in the book for but a moment. His eyes drifted back to the wall and his attention followed. He stared more openly at the annoying source of noise or lack thereof due to the fact nothing seemed to be making noise. Naruto screamed suddenly, startling Gaara from his thoughts. The quiet man dropped his book and looked at Naruto with worry in his eyes. The louder of the two looked at Gaara before letting out a loud whine and throwing his headphones onto the space next to him. Naruto’s whines went unheard as the noise continued louder than before- but still in the background compared to the growing complaints filling the living room space. 

‘Gaara are you even listening?’ Naruto had come over to Gaara’s chair and stood by it. After a second of silence from the other man Naruto too began to hear the noise that had been distracting Gaara so intently. As the apartment became silent the noise seemed to get louder- more specific.

‘Tick, tick, tick’ 

‘It sounds like- like the ticking of a stopwatch?’ Gaara said. Naruto just glared at the wall for a moment before huffing out a breath and going into the kitchen.  
‘Gaara the neighbors are probably just messing with the loudest timer in the fucking world’ Laughed Naruto as he started to make himself some ramen to eat. Sick of the smell of cheap noodles Gaara left the kitchen and as a whole the conversation. As Gaara fell into his bed and closed his eyes he thought of the ticking and the apartment as a whole. When his mind finally surrendered to sleep his final thought stayed with him.

‘The apartment left of ours is empty.’

ー

‘Gaa-’

Gaara’s eyes opened slowly as he looked at his surroundings. He had gotten used to the weird wake up calls of a needy Naruto before, leaving him up for the rest of the day and pissy from his main source of rest cut off from him. It doesn’t happen often but when it did neither party was particularly happy about it. Waking Gaara meant something was bad enough that it required the much more calculating roommate to deal with. The Naruto above him looks absolutely terrified as he shook Gaara awake. Without asking any questions Gaara allowed Naruto to lead him into their shared hallway towards the living room. The darkness encasing them was hard to see through but nothing in the house seemed out of place. As Gaara’s eyes raked over the furniture and fixtures around the living room, his tired but serious eyes paused at the new unidentifiable shape in front of him. Something big and tall. It stood out from the rest of the objects - it almost looked alive.  
Gaara took a single step forward as Naruto got his phone out to call the police. As they got closer the thing in front of them moved- or at least turned to face them. Nothing could be seen except 2 eyes. They were hard to see in the dark but seemed to be pitch black also- the only tell that they were eyes was the quick blink. Naruto had tried to dial 911 but his phone wasn’t working. Everything was silent. Until it wasn’t.

‘I didn’t think they'd be so … small.’ A new voice spoke. The statement seemed more like a comment for itself than to the two petrified men in front. Naruto let out a fleeting scream before grabbing Gaara by the arm. 

‘I remember… you. Do you remember ...me?’ It asked. Neither men had spoken in response to the question spoken- and had no plans to do so later. The thing kept staring at them until a new noise was heard. 

‘Tick, tick, tick’

The thing looked away from the men and towards the wall. For once Gaara had hoped that maybe his own inner demons were just playing the more realistic game of ‘Fuck with Gaara in his sleep’ he’d ever had. He knew Naruto had left a bruise on his arm by now but now seeing the lanky being in front of him move, he thinks if Naruto let go he’d faint. Its movements were quiet and light, quick enough to move without disturbing the silence that was suffocating the two men near it. The thing put it’s hand, claw, tentacles- it’s limb on the wall and suddenly the simple ticks became a shrill tone. It longer the hand stayed the louder the noise became until Naruto couldn’t handle it anymore. He pushed Gaara towards the wall and ran up to the thing. Gaara noticed the light switch next to his shoulder and turned it on.

The light was on for only one second before Gaara turned it back off.

A giant black thing was standing holding Naruto’s face in its hands as it stared directly into his eyes. The thing didn’t have a concrete physical form- just a mass. As if a pole of obsidian smoke and tar was put together and given the scariest googly eyes ever made. The ‘hands’ were just claws - ready to strike at a moments notice. It stood so tall it had to pick Naruto up to really, really see him.  
The ticking had stopped. Naruto screamed as the lights came on. By the time Gaara worked up the nerve to turn them back on the thing was gone. A black mark left on the wall was still dripping too. Naruto was on the floor - having fainted from the terrifying stimulation given to him. The thing was in front of him now. It seemed to have more of a shape- more human. Gaara would swear on his life he saw a smile too. That is before he was touched by the newly formed hand and for a fleeting moment almost felt this was real. Then he was gone. 

ー  
Everything felt sticky. 

It reminded him of when he would clean the syrup bottle with warm water and his hand would have a syrupy feel. As if the thick sugar was still stuck to him no matter what. That was how Gaara would describe his current environment. He felt warm too. So warm it started to hurt. His dreams- rare as they were- could never be described as this detailed before. Never any lasting feeling and definitely nothing anywhere near pleasant.  
It felt so hot as if he was burning up. Naruto had always told him he was a pretty cool guy, physically and mentally- which made sense seeing how he grew up in the desert. He was used to the element of heat and grainy sand. But for the first time, it felt as though the heat was overbearing. Somehow he was burning up but cool at the same time. Sticky yet so very dry. 

What a mess.

ー  
When Gaara opened his eyes he was laying down in his room, with all his blankets on the floor. His hand wandered around his nightstand until he felt his phone in his grasp. 9 A.M with 3 missed messages and 2 emails. Gaara spent a little longer on his phone replying to whomever and checking on whatever before getting up and walking into this living room. On the way down the hall, he could help but look at the now illuminated room with a sense of dread. No black tar stains, no dead bodies. Normal. The only thing that wasn’t normal was Naruto sitting at the table and talking animatedly with another guy unknown to Gaara.

‘Oh- Gaara G’morning!’ Naruto looks away from his guest and towards Gaara. He points at the other man and begins to talk excitedly. ‘This is our new neighbor Rock Lee!’ The man in question was sitting and staring at Gaara politely with a small smile on his face. 

‘Lee moved here from- uh, I don’t know. Somewhere I guess.’ With a glance at Lee, Gaara saw him shrug in response to the lack of location. Gaara begins to look the man up and down. His hair was long, put in a messy braid laying over his shoulder. His eyes were large and warm, though dark. He was wearing a pretty normal outfit for the average person their age during fall. A crop top gray hoodie falling off his right shoulder, green leotard, white bandages wrapped around his forearms, and the only thing on his very ‘healthy’ legs were bright orange leg warmers. The average outfit for the everyday young adult.

‘Why are you dressed like that. It's the beginning of fall. And 2019.’ Gaara asked in a seemingly harsh voice. While Gaara lacked the eloquence to ask politely Naruto agreed with the question. Lee jumped up from the chair and posed in such a way he seemed more like an anime character than an actual person with working bones. 

‘I was relaxing in my own personal residence before I decided to go around and greet my fellow neighbors! The youth between neighbors is a bond everyone should preserve!’ Lee had begun to clench his fist has he kept changing poses. Once he began doing squats Gaara had to ask him to sit back down. The energy radiating off of the other man was blatant to the point even Naruto seemed to be smiling more than usual. Gaara looked around the room, his previous dream still fresh and clear in his mind. The walls and floor were as clean as the night before, in-other-words, dirty. The wall with the ticks was silent, untouched by the large black hand that had been leaning on it in the dream. 

Naruto and Lee seemed to be hitting it off, to the point that you’d think they were old friends. Something felt off though. As if the source wasn’t on the other side of the walls anymore. Now it was on theirs.

 

秋

**Author's Note:**

> So!!!!  
> I haven't publicly written anything- or for fandom at least in years. I'm gonna keep it 100% with you guys I'm obsessed with Lee to the moon and back. Thank you for reading and comments make me want to write 20x more. I ASSURE YOU IT MAKES A BIG FUCKING DIFFERENCE. 
> 
> Also, for reference, this story doesn’t follow a straight linear story line! It’s more like drabbles in the idea that all come together - so that’s why it may seem some ideas are dropped suddenly or time skips appear :)
> 
> -Pepsi


End file.
